Infested

Vermines is a bit like Arachnophobia in the French way. You get rather unconventional and not very likeable characters, a grimy slum setting and a very limited amount of humour, but you also get solid action, very indiscriminate spider terror and a few scenes that will make you uncomfortable in your seat. The film uses real creatures in many scenes, and when it goes into computer-generated effects, it's not noticeable at all, so the realistic visuals do a lot for the viewer's effect. There probably aren't that many good spider horror movies historically, but this one can easily count among them. (10/12/2023)

I'm definitely not a fan of spiders, but my curiosity lured me to the cinema to see Infested, as I have a bit of a thing for animal horror movies (about overgrown crocodiles, snakes, boars, sharks, etc.). Sébastien Vaniček's film impresses with a soundtrack I would have expected in a film about drugs or the mafia rather than deadly eight-legged creatures - though drugs are often mentioned. As far as the action-horror level is concerned, it works on the whole; here I would highlight especially the scene with the flashing corridor, which gave me solid goosebumps. But the overall experience is noticeably marred by the characters and their actions, it was really hard to root for them to escape the "web of death". (06/05/2024)

The only thing worse than finding a spider in your apartment is losing a spider in your apartment. Just such an event in the film results in the infestation of a whole apartment building with venomous fiddlebacks (or whatever they were) from the basement to the attic, where the spiders multiply at a startling rate, each time growing significantly larger than their antecedents, in which case the film flirts a bit with science fiction at the end. The realistic setting of an apartment building in a social housing estate and the fresh, energetic approach of the young filmmaker are exactly what the arachno-horror genre need. After the long exposition with the introduction of the characters, the action gains proper intensity, which it constantly escalates so that some scenes border on being unbearable, especially for people who are repelled by spiders. Absolutely everyone will squirm in their seats. Vermin is the best spider horror movie since Arachnophobia from 1990. (10/14/2023)

A very weak, generic genre film. A group of young adults are trapped in a spider's web along with the entire residential building due to one single mistake. In the place I watched it, they really tried hard and placed artificial spider webs and spiders, but that's pretty much all that can be remembered positively about it. (05/14/2024)

Objectively a strong 4*, but I can't help but go for a full score, as we haven’t seen a quality movie with spiders for 20 years, this is such a terribly intense, yet underrated and (for some reason??) forgotten genre that every addition is welcomed with open arms by all fans. And Sebastien Vaniček has done a truly incredible job of it, because Infested is top shit in every way, from the expensive visuals to the never-ending suspense to the excellent five leads, who can act and can be scared, I fully bought their emotions. The looks of the spiders is disgusting and arachnophobes can forget about the film as this is really quite unpleasant and can terrify even the most hardened. I also have to praise the certain "overkill" of the whole concept of evolving spiders as it opens the door to endless variety in terms of spider evolution in a few hours, so we get all the different sized creatures at once, which is a big plus. The film has momentum, a solid pace, and expensive visuals – what more could you ask for? Not to just praise, I also have to critically say that the film has quite a few flaws: sometimes people act stupid, I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't get more heart-attack inducing scenes, where, for example, the spiders would have crawled more on the characters and we as viewers could have enjoyed more physical disgust on ourselves and felt them behind the screen, and it's also a great pity that the finale doesn't actually explain the whole thing and showing us how the situation was resolved. However, due to the absolute drought in this (sub)genre, this is a full five out of the park and I absolutely cannot understand why more films with spiders aren't made, as when a solid budget is added to the mix, half the battle is won and there's always a fanbase for this type of movies. Anyone who doesn't see spiders everywhere they go for a few days after this film probably didn't watch it right and should repeat the process with headphones and a darkened room. Great. (04/29/2024)